If you are interested in gardening, you have a treat coming up April 20-21 in Discovery Gardens. The Central Florida Landscape and Gardening Fair is preparing a great lineup for you with educational seminars and activities, as well as garden-related vendors.

Starting at 10 a.m., April 20, Dr. Jamie Ellis will be talking about the plight of the honey bee. Well known for his beekeeper college, Ellis’ talk will be more general about the recent declines in honey bees, and other interesting bee facts. All speakers will be around for questions afterwards, so store up some questions for our experts.

Next on the agenda is Jonathan Squires, our local barefoot gardener, with a talk on no turf landscaping, a subject dear to the heart of those who hate to mow grass.

Robert Bowden, director of Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, will be talking at 12:30 p.m. about setting the record straight on gardening myths. His wonderful photography and humor, as well as his gardening knowledge, have made him a favorite speaker for gardening audiences.

Following him at 2 p.m. will be Keri Leymaster, Orange County Extension agent and past Sea World horticulturist. She will tell us how to use those confusing irrigation controllers that are worse than TV controllers to program. Research at UF/IFAS has shown that people can save as much as 70 percent of their irrigation water if they use their controllers properly.

Meanwhile, if your in terests are more along the lines of cooking what you grow, Julie England, our own Family and Consumer Sciences Extension agent, will be teaching cooking with herbs in our kitchen. Find out what herbs grow well here and how you can use them in delicious, nutritious recipes. Taste testing will be included.

Vendors and other speakers will be available in the Discovery Gardens both days, and there will be children’s activities in the children’s gardens including the butterfly house. At 10:30 a.m., Saturday, and 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Bill Ferree of WattNext, Inc. will be talking about using solar power in the Horticulture Learning Center (HLC) building. A federal grant was used to outfit the HLC with solar panels that now provide the electricity for the building with the excess sold back to the utility.

Master Gardeners will be stationed in seven of the gardens from 11 a.m. to noon and 2 to 3 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday to answer any horticulture questions about the tropical shade garden, camellia shade garden, nectar garden, palm walk, herb garden, cottage garden and butterfly house.

If you are interested in backyard fruit production, our own commercial fruit production agent, Gary England, will be in the fruit garden to answer questions from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Steve Earls, our local square foot gardening guru, will be available at our square foot vegetable garden on Saturday at 12:05 p.m. and 1:40 p.m. on Sunday for demonstrations and questions.

On Sunday, our auditorium speakers start at 10 a.m. with Carl and Bernie Moro talking about gardening with worms. They are the owners of Our Vital Earth and have extensive knowledge of composting and gardening with worms.

At noon on Sunday the keynote speaker Tom MacCubbin will be talking about gardening challenges for Florida gardens. MacCubbin is famous in central Florida as a long-time UF/IFAS Extension agent, now emeritus, for his TV and radio gardening programs.

Teresa Watkins, host of “In Your Yard” radio program, will follow him at 1:30 p.m. to talk about how to implement Florida friendly landscaping in your community. This is an introduction to the course used for state certification of HOA and property managers.

In the gardens on Sunday at 10 and 11 a.m., Maryann Krisovitch from the Lake County Water Authority will talk about using rain water at the cistern and rain barrels that capture water from our HLC building.

If you are interested in purchasing and painting your own rain barrel, Christina Miller from the city of Mount Dora will be in the gardens from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday with rain barrels and paint so you can make your own to take home.

Wildflowers are the topic for Wendy Poag, Lake County Parks and Trails, Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. starting in the Wetlands pavilion. She will take you through the gardens to see the various wildflower plantings and answer questions about how you can start your own.

If you are interested in more detailed information on wildflowers and native plants, we have a program called “Expanding Your Plant Palette” on April 24.

As you can see, we have a lot of great speakers and activities for you on April 20-21 in the Discovery Gardens. I hope you will join us and discover your own gardening talents at the second annual Central Florida Landscape and Garden Fair.

Visit the Discovery Gardens and our plant clinic with your plant problems and questions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays, at the Ag Center, 1951 Woodlea Road, Tavares.

How “green” is your garden?

Lots of water and chemical fertilizer can make any garden look lush, but that route may not be the kindest approach to our ecosystem.

Learn how to have a beautiful garden while being “green,” too, at today’s Elk Grove Greener Gardens Festival.

To be held at Miwok Park, the festival in its second year is dedicated to water-wise, eco-friendly landscaping. The free event features speakers, demonstrations and workshops devoted to “river-friendly landscaping.” Vendors will sell edible and native plants plus garden products.

“We’re at it again, only bigger and better,” said organizer Soleil Tranquilli, a green-certified garden designer.

The festival includes a free drive-yourself garden tour, showcasing local homes that converted their front yards to water-wise landscaping. (Sign up online for a map.)

Among the tour highlights: Elk Grove’s new Rain Garden Plaza, the largest of its kind in the region. A 1-acre educational watershed park, the rain garden features many low-water use perennials and shrubs.

For this event, Elk Grove Greener Gardens teamed up with Cosumnes Community Services District’s parks department for its annual Creek Week cleanup, Tranquilli said.

“The big message is that creeks and rivers are affected by our personal practices and decisions in the landscape and beyond,” Tranquilli said. “So, Creek Week is the perfect tie-in for showing off river-friendly landscaping practices to the public.”

Water-efficient landscapes save money as well as water. According to the American Water Association, converting a 2,500-square-foot lawn to low-water use plants can save 372 gallons a day during growing seasons. That can add up to more than 44,000 gallons a year, Tranquilli said.

And it’s not just about saving water. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides flow off our lawns and gardens and into local streams and rivers, affecting the whole ecosystem.

“Transitioning from a traditional lawn into a greener garden can have numerous positive environmental results and help save you money,” she said.

Greener Gardens sprouted first in Elk Grove, and the idea is spreading, Tranquilli added. Roseville plans to kick off its Greener Gardens program June 2.

Cornflower open house

Also in Elk Grove today, Cornflower Farms will host its annual spring nursery day.

Renowned for its huge collection of California native plants, the farm is rarely open to the public. But from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, gardeners can browse the farm’s many perennials and hard-to-find native plants, then take some home.

As their name would imply, native plants were made to grow here and are perfectly adapted to our climate. That helps them save water, too.

Specializing in California native plants since 1981, Cornflower Farms is at 9811 Sheldon Road in Elk Grove. Find it online at www.cornflowerfarms.com.

Tagging Capitol’s trees

It took help from the state Legislature, but the California Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Antelope-North County Women’s Club have started a project to put name tags on the trees at Capitol Park.

“It sounds easy, but this project literally took an act of government to enable us to purchase these tags,” said Dori Kelsey, representing the Antelope club.

The 40-acre park that surrounds the state Capitol is home to hundreds of trees, several more than a century old. Over the decades, many of their official identification plaques have been lost or destroyed.

According to Kelsey, the club determined that 1,500 trees need new tags, which cost $15 apiece. Because it’s on state property, the tags had to meet state requirements (and get approval) while still being affordable.

“Why do the trees need tags?” she said. “Many of the trees come from all over California and the world.”

Identification helps visitors find trees that they might want to add to their own gardens. They can learn about tree diversity and different varieties.

“Besides, it is fun to know what you are looking are and to know its name,” she added.

To help the club tag the Capitol trees, contact Kelsey at (916) 332-7133 or antelopeCFWC@comcast.net. Or visit the state organization’s website at www.cfwc.org.

ELK GROVE GREENER GARDENS FESTIVAL

Where: Miwok Park, 9344 Village Tree Drive, Elk Grove

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. today

Admission: Free

Details: www.elkgrovegreenergardens.org

This festival focuses on sustainable, water-wise landscaping with free workshops, demonstrations, children’s activities, expert advice, plant sale and more. Sign up online for a free drive-yourself garden tour of water-wise home landscapes, also to be held today.

Call The Bee’s Debbie Arrington, (916) 321-1075. Follow her on Twitter @debarrington.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Order Reprint

WASHINGTON –  Around the same time the State Department was warning the public about the painful pinch from sequester cuts, it was also signing off on a $700,000 gardening contract at the home of a U.S. ambassador in Belgium, federal documents show.

The March 11 contract for the U.S. Mission in Brussels includes $134,744 in the first year for grass cutting, weeding, trimming and other landscaping services at Truman Hall. It also calls for planting nearly 1,000 violas, begonias and tulips at NATO Ambassador Ivo Daalder’s home.  

The total amount of the contract awarded to Brussels-based landscaping company Iris Greencare stretches to up to $704,198 over a four-year period.

“Maintenance and appearance of the grass, shrubbery, garden areas, trees and related landscape elements of the U.S. Post and properties are an important part of the representational responsibilities of the U.S. mission,” the contract states.

The U.S. is also shelling out money for 36 window box planters and 1,008 different kinds of vegetation including 60 Hedera, 72 Skimmia japonica rubella and 504 Pelagorium Peltatum, or ivy geranium. 

The government argues the upkeep is needed because Truman Hall hosts diplomats and other guests from 28 NATO nations around the world. U.S. missions and embassies are expected to be maintained, as their appearance reflects on America. But some could question spending so much money on shrubbery especially at a time when the State Department issued warnings that cuts from sequestration would result in scaling back security at foreign facilities and assistance to U.S. allies.  

In a five-page letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, Kerry said sequestration would cut $2.6 billion from the department’s 2013 budget. 

“Reductions in funding would jeopardize the Department’s efforts to provide secure, error-free travel documents to those eligible to receive them, while denying them to those not eligible,” Kerry wrote in the Feb. 11 letter.“Reduced funding would also undermine progress made in ensuring that visa requests are processed in a timely fashion.” 

The landscaping contract was first reported by CNSNews.com. 

Truman Hall, named after former President Harry Truman, was built in 1963 by Architect B.A. Jacquemotte and Landscape Architect René Pechère. According to the State Department’s web site, the 28-acre property consists of several gardens, meadows and a lawn pavilion. The entry hall is paved in “pierre bleu” Belgian black marble, with “wide and inviting” corridors and a library with “fine 18^th century wood paneling.”

The State Department is also shopping for landscaping services for U.S. embassies in Santiago, Chile; Bangkok, Thailand; and in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Multiple calls to the State Department and emails to Iris Greencare for comment were not returned.  

“Gardening is an art form,” says Connie Parrett who co-chairs a garden tour that proves her point.

The flowerful jaunt, Rochester Garden and Flower Club’s (RGFC) Annual Garden Tour, will take place July 18. “It will be festive and fun,” Parrett says. She and her fellow co-chair, Barbara Muenkel, invite you to come see.

The tour, which highlights flower gardens and landscaping, is a popular event that each year draws and dazzles a crowd of several hundred visitors to five or six Rochester-area gardens.

The gardens’ addresses? RGFC keeps them confidential until you buy your ticket.

The exception to the secret gardens rule is the tour’s first stop, the S.M.A.R.T. Gardens at Rochester Community and Technical College’s Heintz Center. An outdoor laboratory for RCTC’s Horticulture Technology program, the S.M.A.R.T. (sustainable, medicinal, artistic, resourceful and thematic) Gardens are gorgeous, Parrett says, and offer something new every year.

Heintz Center is also the place to buy tour tickets, register for door prizes, browse educational displays and sample Cold Stone ice cream (while supplies last).

From there, the tour is self-guided. “Take your map and off you go.”

Off to explore colorful and fragrant gardens, such as the one that dresses up a corner lot on a hillside. Flowers bloom in profusion and there’s a water feature and– “She’s got more in that corner lot than people with an acre,” Parrett says, “and her neighbors on both sides of the corner love the view.”

Another treat on the itinerary is a sprawling country-style garden a few miles outside Rochester. Parrett hasn’t seen it yet but says club members who have seen it, rate it spectacular!

“You’ll get ideas and see ingenious ways to fix common problems,” she says, “and you can talk to Master Gardeners.”

The RGFC tour will showcase other art forms, too. At the gardens, area musicians will perform and area artists will display their works.

Parrett sums up the tour this way: “It’s lovely to walk through these gardens.”

What: Rochester Garden and Flower Club (RGFC) Annual Garden Tour.

When: Thursday, July 18, 4 p.m. – dusk, with ticket sales to start at 3:30 p.m.

Where: The tour begins at Heintz Center, 1926 College View Road East, which is also the location of the tour’s first visit, the RCTC S.M.A.R.T. Gardens.

Admission: $10 for each adult, free for children and students.

For more info: See rgfc.org or call 507-254-4368.

Of note: Rochester Trolley and Tour Company offers an alternative to the self-guided method. Instead, you can catch a trolley. The Take the Trolley option debuted last summer, garnered great enthusiasm and filled in a hurry.

By June 1, more information will be available about the 2013 Garden Tour’s Take the Trolley. Check online at RochesterMNtours.com. Reserve seats online or by phone at 507-421-0573.

One more thing: How long has this been going on? If you know when RGFC’s Annual Garden Tour began, would you please tell RGFC? “The club formed in 1929,” tour co-chair Connie Parrett says, “but the tour history is a bit of a mystery. We’re working on it because an anniversary is coming up, we’re sure.”

No doubt about it, spring is in the air. Signs of it are everywhere. Buds are bursting; branches are bearing. And the Clatsop County Master Gardeners (CCMG) are bustling as they “Spring into Gardening.” The master gardeners invite the public to join them for their annual Spring Garden Seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. Take off a layer or two of winter clothing, go find your gardening tools and mark your calendars for a free day filled with plants, classes, advice, vendors and raffles.

Arrive early; grab a cup of coffee and a snack, compliments of the master gardeners. Then stroll through the more than 30 vendors’ booths. You’ll find all things gardening: plant sales, master gardeners on hand answering gardening questions; a master gardeners’ raffle – just about anything that has to do with gardens.

Be sure to catch the Tongue Point Job Corps (TPJC) Landscaping booth to see what a bunch of skilled students are up to. Five dollars will purchase a raffle ticket, and there’s no limit on the number you can buy. The winning ticket is worth eight hours of landscaping or yard work in Clatsop or Pacific County. TPJC landscape instructor Kris Saulsbury, his student crew of about 15 experienced landscapers, and all equipment needed come with the win. To say the least, these are the hottest tickets of the day, and you don’t have to be present to win. “I like the raffle idea. With a raffle everyone has a chance,” Saulsbury said. There’s only one winning ticket, but all proceeds go toward the Clatsop County Master Gardeners’ scholarship.

One lucky Astoria couple, the Laugherys, know what the win can bring. “Bill and I won a full day of yard work donated by the students,” Gin Laughery said. “We were extremely happy with their work. They worked together as professionals, problem solving right along with Kris. Then came the rain, the hard rain, forcing the crew to quit, but making sure we knew they would be back to finish up. We were so pleased with their work that we hired Kris and four of his students to come back and do some clearing for us. It’s evident that these kids fall in love with landscaping. Kris is proud of them and he should be.

“By the way, if you haven’t seen the Job Corps’ grounds, which are maintained by the landscape program’s students, they look somewhat like a golf course,” Laughery added. “They are absolutely stunning while at the same time providing the students with lifelong skills.”

There are only 12 landscaping vocational training programs nationwide, and Tongue Point Job Corps has the only one in the Northwest, which draws its students primarily from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

The master gardener seminar also provides several speakers to address a variety of gardening know-how.

Keynote speaker and Clackamas Community College horticulture teacher Elizabeth Howley will discuss Victory Gardens, both their history and their place in present day, at 11 a.m. Howley has over 30 years of experience teaching and lecturing on a variety of horticultural topics. “Since my first visit to a greenhouse with my grandfather at age five, I’ve been learning how plants grow,” Howley said.

At 11:30 a.m., Susan Dyer-Preston, former Astorian, a master gardener and the woman behind the Clatsop County Animal Shelter’s Pet Friendly Garden (which is open to the public) will discuss Pet-Friendly Gardens, highlighting plants and gardening practices that are safe for animals.

Becky Graham, Astoria master gardener and owner of Harvest Moon Designs, will speak about custom container gardens at 1 p.m. She and her husband, TPJC landscape instructor Saulsbury , have over 100 plants in containers in their own garden. “You might say it is an obsession,” Graham said.

At 2 p.m. Teresa Retzlaff of 46 North Farm, will talk about extending a growing season with raised beds and row covers. Retzlaff is a well known advocate for all things healthy, including a local food economy. Retzlaffwill also participate in the Open Forum.

New this year is the addition of an Open Forum at 3 p.m. A panel will share their knowledge and answer questions from the audience. The panel includes “man-for-all- seasons,” traveler, former restaurant owner and current farmer Fred Johnson of Fred’s Homegrown Produce. Johnson says that “farming has humbled him as a human, an eater and a pompous chef but makes him whole in ways he has never before known.” Panelist Retzlaff is an organic farmer, well known and respected local food enthusiast, founding member of the North Coast Food Web and outreach coordinator for North Coast Land Conservancy. Completing the panel is Michael Bunch, a CCC science instructor and a master gardener who has taught botany for the Clatsop County Master Gardeners’ certification classes for many years.

The Clatsop County Master Gardeners have been actively working in and educating themselves and our community for 25 years. The first of what became their annual spring event was held at Astoria High School shortly after they formed ; it was then moved to the Fairgrounds. “This is our biggest public outreach event,” Sandy Gipson, chair of this year’s “Spring into Gardening” event, said. “The master gardener mission is public education. We want people to know that we are here to answer their questions. Sometimes people assume that we know everything. We don’t. Far from it, but we are well trained to look stuff up, to find the correct answers, which are usually available through Oregon State’s OSU Extension Service or other such bona fide research. We are continually learning.”

The Clatsop County Master Gardeners, well rooted in our community for over two decades continue to grow and to give. “Spring into Gardening” with them at the Clatsop Fairgrounds and leave feeling more ready than ever to dig into your own gardens.

Click photo to enlargeIn 1992, Rick and Gayle Leland moved to Durham from the Bay Area. Built by Gary Lee of Chico, their home was designed by Jared Polsky of Larkspur, who described the style as “modern Mediterranean.” The property was a dying almond orchard, providing a clean slate for the Leland’s plant collection.

(Please park in the horse riding area and proceed East to the ticket takers.)

To the east from the parking area is an area of palm trees, citrus, lilacs, yucca and Mexican primrose. The south lawn (fescue and encroaching bermuda) is a woodland theme with a pomegranate tree, a number of redwoods, a Deodar cedar, forsythia, azalea, crape myrtles, Russian sage and lilacs.

A simple rectangular form, the pool was built by Bill Beamer. Near the pool house is a kumquat tree.

• PHOTO GALLERY of the garden

Around the swimming pool are four beds with Mediterranean fan palms, knifofia, flax, pineapple guava and agapanthus. Notice the chicken coop behind the pool house.

The east lawn is Bermuda grass to accommodate the family’s many sports activities. Separating the east lawn from the horse pasture is a walkway with English garden plants, including a magnolia tree, hollyhocks, roses, eureops, pyracantha, geum, quince, viburnum and two flame euonamous “alata compacta.”

The walkway to the service area has raspberries and a currant on the

right and strawberries on the left.

The garden area also has a three-part compost bin and a nursery area for storing plants awaiting propagation or installation.

The road from the service area to the house has a number of fruit trees designed to produce from May to October: grapes, plums, apples, apricots, cherries, hazelnuts, fuyu persimmon, pistachio nuts, and nectarines. The garden area also has seven raised beds for winter vegetables and a small Quonset hut propagation bed for starting and hardening off.

As you continue on, you may count the 64 rose bushes in the four beds edged in boxwood surrounded by high hedges of cherry laurel. A traditional sundial is in the center. Near the house is an herb garden made up of four beds embedded in the patio.

A wisteria under which are Daphne, gardenias and agapanthus dominates the rock garden. The rock garden has creeping phlox, miniature daffodils, asters, lavender Harlequin Flower, and a “Tiny Rubies” carnation.

The driveway has arid plants with olive trees, New Zealand Flax (Phormium), Fortnight Lily (deities) and crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia Indica), ceanothus, eureops and toyon. Also from Australia is an unusual “drumstick” plant (crassedia globosa).

The auto court area is dominated by a center arrangement with a fountain and a fruitless olive tree. Around the circle are three Chinese pagoda trees (sophora japonica) providing shade for cars. Shrubs include a peony, abelia, ralpholopsis, sage, nandina and agapanthus. Near the corner of the house is a small cactus garden with aloes. Providing a lovely fragrance in this area is a viburnum tinus, a wintersweet (chimonanthus) and a number of citrus.

St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church’s 30th annual Garden Tour is planned for Saturday, May 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Chico. It will feature five unique gardens.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 on tour day. The price includes five gardens, luncheon and a plant boutique. Garden locations and a map are printed on the tickets. (Some gardens may not be suitable for the mobility impaired.)

Tickets may be purchased at:

* Christian and Johnson, 250 Vallombrosa Avenue, Chico

* Little Red Hen Gift Shop, 897 E. 20th Street, Chico

* Little Red Hen Therapeutic Plant Nursery, 8th and Wall streets, Chico

* Little Red Hen Kids and Kitchens, 959 East Avenue, Chico

* Magnolia Gift and Garden, 1367 East Avenue, Chico

* Zucchini and Vine, 2nd and Main streets, Chico

* TJ’s Nursery and Gifts, 2107 Kennedy Avenue, Chico

* The Plant Barn and Gift Shop, 406 Entler Ave., Chico

* Mendon’s Nursery, 5424 Foster Road, Paradise

* Hodge’s Nursery and Gifts, 9681 Midway, Durham

* St. John’s Church office, 2341 Floral Avenue, Chico.

NOTE: St. John’s Church office will be the only location selling tickets after 3 p.m. on Friday, May 3. For more information, contact St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church at 894-1971. Or visit the church website at www.stjohnschico.org.

Click photo to enlarge

EUREKA — The committee of the Eureka Sequoia Garden Club recently announced eight winners of the “Garden Jewels on E Street” award. This monthly series honors the front yards of properties in Eureka. The contest has viewed 1,552 buildings and presented 76 certificates during the last eight months.

This month, flowering trees are evident in most of these gardens. The cascading form of the flowering cherry must have been popular 20 years ago. Recently you’ll see those trees presented in their natural forms. Azaleas and rhododendrons continue to grow well in Eureka gardens and are beginning to color all of the neighborhoods.

The public is invited to attend the Eureka Sequoia Garden Club meeting on April 19 at 11 a.m. at First Covenant Church, 2526 J St., to enjoy the program presented by Gary Todoroff, garden photographer. The certificates will be presented at noon.

This month’s jewels are:

Madalenne Smith lives at 1506 E St. She enjoys her flowering cherry tree that looks like an umbrella in the spring. The corner garden lot features primroses, marguerite daisies, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips and forget-me-nots. The gold euonymus frames the front door. The hydrangea, azalea and rhododendrons will bloom later this month. A garden on the side of the house repeats these same favorite bulbs and shrubs. The new trees from the Keep Eureka Beautiful project are just starting to show their leaves.

Mature shrubs and trees give a peaceful theme to

the commercial building located at the corner of Wabash and E streets. Signs help identify it as the California State and Federal Employees Credit Union. Rhododendrons and azaleas provide color, and flowering plum trees sparkle in the spring. The parking lot and entrance are well-marked and the landscaping is well-pruned for good growth. Denise Rogers is the CEO.

The front yard of Philip and Kristi Holland at 2333 E St. has a holly hedge to identify the space and includes a pair of junipers on each side of the front windows. A flowering cherry tree, Australian tea tree and a large cedar tree give height to accent the two-story home. A meandering walkway from the front door to the backyard leaves space for rhododendrons, azaleas, shrub roses and hydrangea, to give color to the landscape.

The three-story late Queen Anne home at 2436 E St. has a tower at the corner, which has garlands of ribbons that are matched by the landscaping. Dr. Rodney and Linda Cade enjoy the magnolia grandiflora trees, which bloom early in the spring. The yard is edged with a low boxwood hedge fronted by tulips, azaleas and lavender. Rhododendrons on each side of the front steps are magnificent and compete with the bergenia, hydrangeas and the holly tree for attention. Sue Natzler was the landscape designer.

Darryl and Beatrice Aberbom live at 2712 E St. The raised beds of timber posts and rails create the border for the landscaping, which is filled with primroses and azaleas. The two-story home is framed by Japanese maples, while podocarpus frame the front door and brick porch. The manicured lawn complements the helleborus, ornamental grasses, hydrangeas, euphorbia, ferns, photinia and pieris. The focal point is the junipers shaped in a cloud formation. Darryl is the plant manager at Shafer’s Garden Center.

The Umpqua Bank branch in Henderson Center, located at 2861 E St., is a commercial building built in the Craftsman style to blend into the Henderson Center neighborhood. Flowering cherry trees in the sidewalk greet the visitors, who can also sit on the wooden bench on the west side of the building.

Rain from the roof lets water travel on the chain downspouts to help keep the turf green. The stone facade is accented by magnolia trees, which add spring color to the collection of azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, pieris and aralias. Additional color comes from the purple cinerea, miniature agapanthus, zebra grass and bergenia. This is a very well-designed public building.

The ranch-style home with a red brick facade is the home of Scott and Marilyn Ostrom located at 3474 E St. It features purple wisteria hanging from the eaves. Japanese maples frame the property. Low, wrought-iron edging along the sidewalk contains the bright red heather, and the red brick edges the walkway to the front porch. Native stones accent the raised beds of lavender, rhododendrons, beach pine and azaleas. The scene is completed with a rattan swinging bench on the front porch.

The garden located at 3828 E St. is “bee friendly.” Joy Thomas and Stephan Sottong asked Two Green Thumbs garden design company to design the area without any lawn. Gisela Rohde and Julia Graham-Whitt selected flowering currant, lambs ear, fleabane, lavender, violets, bergenia and succulents. A picket fence matches the color of the home and includes an arbor and gate to enter the garden. Bulbs, roses, New Zealand flax, Japanese maples and boxwood give structure to the garden. This is a landscape for a special need (the bees).

Wait before you plant warmth-loving flowers such as coleus, zinnias and marigolds outdoors. You can continue to add new trees, shrubs, perennials, berries and groundcovers to the landscape this month. In the vegetable garden it is still too cold to plant heat-loving seeds such as tomatoes, squash, corn or peppers. This is a good week to seed cool season crops such as lettuce, radish, cabbage, carrots and broccoli.

Question: Is it too late to prune my roses? I see lots of new leaves but my roses are getting very big and out of control. – T., Sumner

Answer: There is still time to prune back the roses even if you see new growth sprouting on the old canes. Always remove the three D’s — anything Dead, Diseased or Damaged when you decide to prune a plant. After that the decision of what to amputate and what to leave alone is often a matter of personal taste. If you want larger flowers and shorter plants, prune back your roses to stumps 1 foot tall. If you want a more carefree and bushy rose just shorten the entire plant by about one-third.

Q. I have a new house and some really big shrubs. When can I cut back things such as rhododendrons, azaleas and other things that look as if they are going to bloom? How do I know what to keep and what to get rid of? Help! – P.Y. Email

A. Wait. Breathe. Enjoy. Rhododendrons, azaleas and other spring flowering shrubs can be trimmed after they flower. The line to remember is “pruning after blooming.” I suggest you just sit back this spring and see what pops up. Take pictures of shrubs when they are in flower as this will make it easier to identify them. Attend classes at your local nursery, visit the library for garden books and start talking to the neighbors about what you like growing in their gardens. Learning about plants and landscaping is a lifetime process. This means that no matter how old we get, we remain very young gardeners. Use this month to introduce yourself to your new landscape by removing weeds and debris, spreading mulch and trimming the lawn. There’s plenty of time to get snippy later.

Q. When daffodils are done blooming, do I need to deadhead or remove the flower head? Also, is it true if you cut off the leaves of a daffodil it will never return? – E., Tacoma

A. No, you do need to remove the spent flowers of daffs, tulips or other spring-blooming bulbs, but many gardeners do this to keep the garden tidy. Yes, it is true that daffodils and other bulbs make flowers for next year by sucking all the green from their foliage. If you remove the leaves before they have turned yellow you starve the bulb and it will come back a puny runt or not at all. This is a good week to visit the nursery and buy a perennials such as euphorbia, hosta or daylily to position right in front of the fading daffodils. Growing spring bulbs in the back of a bed and perennials in the front is a great marriage of convenience.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.